KEENE, N.H. 2/22/11 – Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.) did the dunking and Ryan Martin (Wayne, Me.) did the free throw shooting in overtime to lead the fourth seeded Keene State College men's basketball team to a thrilling 96-88 win over fifth seed UMass-Dartmouth in a Little East Conference quarterfinal tournament game played at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.  The pair combined for 10 of the Owls 17 points in the extra period.

                With four fouls Wright knew he had to play smart in overtime.  "I made a couple of bone-head plays and got a couple of bad fouls and I knew I had to be out there for my team, so I tried to be smart at the end of the game." he said.

                "We have confidence in each other.  They got the ball to me and I was able to finish the plays like I'm expected to do," said Wright about his late-game heroics.   

                "We didn't play every possession great, but I thought we got stops when we needed to and offensively we scored and got them into foul trouble and that was a big difference," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.

                Junior Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) and Wright, who connected on all of his nine shots from the field, each scored 20 points while Martin finished with 15 points for KSC.  Wright completed his double-double by pulling down 10 rebounds.

                Junior Colin Burns (Chepachet, R.I) had a game high 23 points and senior Brandon Stephens (Dorchester, Mass.) added 18 points to lead the Corsairs.

                Keene State (17-9), which had lost both of its regular season games to the Corsairs, moves onto the semifinal round where they will face top seed and tournament host Rhode Island College on Friday at 6 p.m.  The defending champion Anchormen had a first-round bye.  UMass-Dartmouth (11-15) suffers its first quarterfinal loss in the past 12 years of tournament play.  

                "That was the first time a lot of guys in the locker room had beaten UMass-Dartmouth, so it's definitely an accomplishment," said junior Steve Boudreau (North Andover, Mass.), who finished with 11 points.  "We now got to turn the page and get ready for Rhode Island College."

                The Corsairs took advantage of a seven point spurt midway in the first half to go up (32-23) on a pair of free throws by freshman Kadeem Wint (Dorchester, Mass.).               The Owls fought back to take a two point lead (40-38) on a technical free throw and three-pointer from the top of the key D'Amours with 3:46 to go in the half.  UMD regained the lead at halftime 43-42.  Burns and D'Amours each scored 12 first half points for their respective teams.  

                 The back-and-forth entertaining game featured several nice baskets, including a tomahawk dunk by Wright and an airborne put back by sophomore Nicco DeMasco (Richmond, N.H) that put KSC up 69-66 at the 6:34 mark.

                But this game was far from over.  Burns hit a jumper with 1:38 to play that gave UMD a 79-75 lead.  A free throw by Wright in the Owls' next possession made it 79-76.  Following a KSC turnover, junior Paul Rose (Boston, Mass.) was fouled.  He missed both attempts at the line, keeping the Owls hopes alive.  Wright answered the KSC fans prayers when he was fouled after hitting a lay-up.  He hit his free throw shot, tying the game at 79-all with 18.2 seconds to go in regulation. 

                With everyone on their feet at Spaulding Gym, UMD held the ball for a final shot. Stephens missed a jumper from the top of the key.  Rose got the rebound, but his put-back attempt went around the rim and fell back into the hands of Wright sending the game into overtime.

                In overtime, a jump hook by Wright and a couple of free throws by D'Amours gave KSC an 83-79 lead.  After a conventional three-point play by Burns, Wright put down his first of two slams in the extra session to make it 85-82 with 1:59 to go. 

                Four free throws by Martin, the top shooter from the line in Division III, pushed the Owls lead up to 89-85.  Boudreau found Rashad down low for a dunk that extended KSC's lead to 91-85 with 50 seconds to play. 

                After freshman John Genkos (Worcester, Mass.) knocked down a three-point bomb, KSC put the game away.  Martin hit a streaking D'Amours for a driving basket and Boudreau made an uncontested lay-up in the closing seconds to send the Owls to Providence and Keene State fans home with smiles on their faces.  

                DeMasco came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down six rebounds for Keene State, who hit five of its six shots from the field and seven of its 10 attempts from the line in overtime. 

                Keene State has its work cut out for itself against Rhode Island College.  Keene State last faced RIC in the semifinal round of the 2009 LEC tournament, falling to the Anchormen 79-50 in Providence.